WITH the Isle of Wight Festival kicking off today, shoe shops have made booming trade on wellington boots.

Sales data from Shoe Zone in Ryde shows that the store enjoyed a massive 907 per cent increase in sales of wellies over the past three years, on the week of the festival.

Shoe Zone's research shows festival goers panic buy their wellies in the immediate run up to the festival

Shoe Zone looked at how many wellies are sold in the run up to Isle of Wight Festival to work out the percentage increases.

When comparing the increase in sales as the festival gets closer, Shoe Zone saw the below increases, four weeks before the festival, on average:

  • 47 per cent increase in sales three weeks before the Isle of Wight Festival compared to four weeks before
  • 118 per cent increase in sales two weeks before the Isle of Wight Festival compared to the previous week
  • 139 per cent increase one week before the Isle of Wight Festival compared to the previous week
  • 907 per cent increase on the week of the Isle of Wight Festival

Naomi Shefford, head of digital at Shoe Zone, said: “With festivals notorious for bad weather, we were intrigued to see what happens with welly sales around the Isle of Wight Festival.

"Do festival goers leave it until last minute or do we like to prepare ourselves for the mud?

"Non-predictable weather suggests that we all wait until the very last minute before purchasing wellies, with an increase of 907 per cent in sales during the week of the festival."

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